Raising the Threshold for Trademark Infringement to Protect Free Expression

Abstract

The First Amendment right to free speech limits the scope of rights in trademark law. Congress and the courts have devised various defenses and common law doctrines to ensure that protected speech is exempted from trademark infringement liability. These defensive trademark doctrines, however, are narrow and often vary by jurisdiction. One current example is the speech-protective test first articulated by the Second Circuit in Rogers v. Grimaldi, and later developed by the Ninth Circuit, which applies when another’s mark is used within an expressive work. The Rogers test prevents a finding of infringement if this use is artistically relevant to the underlying work and does not explicitly mislead consumers as to the source or content of the work. This categorical rule has definite advantages over the multi-factor likelihood of confusion test in trademark disputes involving expressive works, but—like other speech-protective doctrines—this test has limitations and shortcomings.

This Article proposes an alternative test for protecting First Amendment interests in trademark law that better balances the public interest in avoiding consumer confusion against the public interest in free expression. This proposed broad trademark fair use test would apply to any informational or expressive use of words, names, or symbols claimed by another as a mark in connection with any goods or services. If this threshold requirement is satisfied, this use is not infringing unless the accused infringer’s expression is (1) a false statement about its products (including false claims of sponsorship, endorsement, or approval) or (2) is likely to mislead a reasonable person about the source of the goods, services, or message. This more holistic approach to protecting speech interests in the trademark enforcement context should increase clarity and predictability in trademark law, and will enable courts to dispose of speech-harmful claims as a matter of law early in a lawsuit.

Keywords: trademark, First Amendment, expressive works, artistic works, parody, free speech, likelihood of confusion, Rogers v. Grimaldi, Jack Daniel's, Bad Spaniels, Lanham Act, Supreme Court, fair use

JEL Classification: K39, K19